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2001
Nicolas Jafarieh was appointed general counsel of Sallie Mae. Jafarieh joined the organization, formally the SLM Corp., in 2008, and has extensive experience in financial services and consumer protection, most recently managing several key legal areas, including corporate governance and reporting, litigation, employment and benefits, equity and compensation, corporate insurance, and a number of consumer and regulatory matters.
Prior to joining Sallie Mae, Jafarieh was in private practice, first at Akin Gump in Washington, D.C., and subsequently at his own firm. He has counseled and represented Fortune 500 financial services, energy and technology companies, both domestically and internationally.
Steve Klepper was recognized for excellence in insurance law by Chambers USA. Klepper is a lead attorney in Kramon & Graham’s appellate practice in Baltimore.
2004
Heather L. Carlton, assistant U.S. attorney, was named deputy criminal chief for the Western District of Virginia in April by U.S. Attorney Thomas T. Cullen. Carlton has been a federal prosecutor in the Western District of Virginia since 2014.
Andrew Falevich joined Vedder Price as a shareholder in the tax and estate planning practice group in the New York office. Falevich focuses his practice on domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt financings, and partnership transactions. Previously, Falevich was special counsel at Fried Frank.
Jonathan Kipp joined Maynard Cooper’s securities and tax practice as a shareholder in Birmingham, Ala. Kipp represents a wide range of clients in connection with business entity formation and capitalization, private securities placements, private equity and venture capital investments, mergers and acquisitions, investment fund formation and regulation, and the negotiation of licensing, product development, manufacturing, services and similar agreements.
Curtis Petersen, a shareholder in the real estate practice group of Polsinelli in Kansas City, Mo., was named a BTI Client Service All- Star by BTI Consulting Group. BTI’s All-Stars are not nominated; they are singled out by legal decision-makers at companies with revenues greater than $1 billion, using a six-trait evaluation system: superior client focus, client experience, legal skills, unmatched business understanding, outsized value and innovative thought leadership.
U.S. Navy Cmdr. Erin Quay is serving as deputy fleet judge advocate in the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Quay has received several awards throughout her 14-year career, which includes a tour in Iraq. Outside of the military, Quay volunteers at the Norfolk Ronald McDonald House and sponsors more than 10 “sisters” in the Women for Women International Program, giving women from high-conflict areas the necessary training to start a new life and support their families. “She leads by example and anyone who knows her, both professionally and personally, is inspired by her proactive role in contributing to a better world,” writes a friend.
Thomas R. Waskom was promoted to partner with Hunton Andrews Kurth in Richmond, Va. Waskom focuses his practice on class action, mass tort and environmental litigation.
Jeff L. White was named one of Law360’s 2018 Rising Stars for antitrust/competition in recognition of his ability to navigate complicated merger reviews to find solutions that get multibillion-dollar deals through to closing. Law360’s profile highlighted White’s work advising Allergan on the $39 billion sale of its global generics business to Teva in 2016, which he describes as one of the most challenging of his career.
Tyler Chance Yarbro was elected managing partner of Dodson Parker Behm & Capparella in Nashville, Tenn. Yarbro represents businesses and individuals in a wide range of employment matters. In addition to employment and business law, her litigation practice involves disputes relating to personal injury, criminal and probate matters. She joined the firm in 2011, from the Metropolitan Nashville Public Defender’s Office, where she represented thousands of clients and handled numerous jury trials. Yarbro also teaches trial advocacy at Vanderbilt Law School.
In 2017, she was appointed by the Metro Council to the Greenways and Open Space Commission. Previously, she served on the Community Corrections Advisory Board for nine years. She also serves on the YWCA Advocacy Committee and on the board of directors of Rooftop Nashville. 2005
Scott Horton recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of the launch of his firm Horton Law by publishing his first book, “New York Management Law: The Practical Guide to Employment Law for Business Owners and Managers.” The book was published by Modern Legal Media in paperback and e-book format in April.
A practicing lawyer in Korea since 1992, Kim Oe-Sook LL.M. became the minister of government legislation of the Republic of Korea in June 2017. The ministry, a central administrative agency, oversees and coordinates government legislation and reviews drafts proposed by the executive branches by taking a government-wide and comprehensive approach.
After the bilateral meeting between the leaders of South Korea and the United States, she visited the U.S. to improve the legislative exchange and cooperation in December 2017. At that time, she visited the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the Office of the Legal Adviser of the U.S. Department of State, and the Office of the Legislative Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives. In particular, she met with E. Wade Ballou Jr. ’83, the legislative counsel of the Office of the Legislative Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives. They talked, for the first time, about sharing the legislative experience of the two organizations, and Oe-sook reported a pleasant exchange.
Graves ’06 Named National Pro Bono Counsel
Tiffany M. Graves ’06 joined Bradley Arant Boult Cummings in March as its first pro bono counsel, a firm-wide position for overseeing the development and administration of the firm’s pro bono programs. She is based in the firm’s Jackson, Miss., office.
Bradley’s footprint touches nine communities in seven states, she said. Over 11 million people live at or below poverty in the states in which Bradley has offices.
“My biggest goal in this position is to enhance and cultivate our already strong commitment as we work to address the unmet and often high-stakes legal needs of indigent individuals and charitable institutions throughout the Southeast,” Graves said.
Additionally, the Mississippi Bar in July appointed Graves chair of the family law sections for the 2018-19 terms.
She previously served as executive director of the Mississippi Access to Justice Commission, promoting initiatives to improve and expand access to civil justice to the nearly 700,000 Mississippians living in poverty.
Graves also is active with the Mississippi Commission on the Status of Women and the Community Advisory Board of the MIND Center at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. She is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and an inaugural fellow of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Leadership Network.
—Mike Fox
2006
John H. Doyle was hired in April by Maine Gov. Paul LePage to serve as deputy counsel and senior policy adviser for public safety. Doyle formerly worked in the Office of the Attorney General of Virginia.
Clayton T. Holland was promoted to partner with Hunton Andrews Kurth in Houston, Texas. Holland focuses his practice on serving as bond counsel, underwriter’s counsel and bank counsel in tax-exempt financings for cities, counties, school districts, charter schools, junior college districts, water districts, special districts and nonprofit corporations.
David A. Reed was promoted to partner with Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton. Reed concentrates his practice on patent infringement disputes, with particular emphasis on district court litigation, post-grant proceedings and related appeals. Reed lives in Atlanta with his wife, Sara, and their two girls, Annie and Elizabeth.
Cristiane “Crissy” R. Wolfe is a partner with Krevolin & Horst’s corporate practice in Atlanta. Wolfe focuses her practice on providing corporate and transaction counsel to public and private companies in a variety of industries, including the health care and aviation industries. Previously, Wolfe was a partner in Dentons’ Atlanta office. Outside of legal practice, Wolfe serves on the board of Legal Aid Atlanta.
2007
Irell & Manella partner Rebecca Carson was one of three lawyers nationwide recognized as the 2018 Rising Stars in technology by Law360. Carson was also named one of the 2018 Top 40 Under 40 Lawyers in California by the Daily Journal.
J. Austin Curry of the Dallas-based intellectual property and business litigation law firm Caldwell Cassady & Curry was recognized among the state’s top young lawyers in Super Lawyers’ 2018 Texas Rising Stars. This is the fifth Rising Stars selection for Curry, who focuses his practice on patent infringement disputes and complex commercial litigation.
Curry recently helped win a $502.6 million patent infringement verdict for firm client VirnetX Inc. against technology giant Apple Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. That verdict followed a 2017 judgment of $439.7 million in favor of VirnetX following a separate Eastern District trial the firm also won against Apple involving different products.
Last November, Curry also helped a group of Texas property owners turn back an attempt by the federal government to claim nearly 90,000 acres of private property near the Red River along the Texas/Oklahoma border. After preparing the case for trial, the firm negotiated a settlement that allowed the landowners to retain their property. The settlement also firmly established the border between Texas and Oklahoma as lying within the flow of the Red River.
Katherine Rohrbaugh recently relocated from Illinois to Seattle with her husband and 3-year-old son, Christopher. She is corporate counsel, physical stores at Amazon.
Fitzgerald ’08, Among Alumni Team, Wins Debut At U.S. Supreme Court
Matt Fitzgerald ’08, co-chair of the appeals and issues group at McGuireWoods’ Richmond, Va., office, argued his first case before the U.S. Supreme Court this past term and won. Brian D. Schmalzbach ’10 of McGuireWoods and Charlottesville attorney Charles L. Weber Jr. ’98 were his co-counsel.
Collins v. Virginia, decided May 29, narrowed the so-called “automobile exception” with respect to search-and-seizure protections, holding that the doctrine “does not permit the warrantless entry of a home or its curtilage in order to search a vehicle therein.”
The court ruled 8-1 in favor of Charlottesville resident Ryan Collins, who complained that police, acting without a warrant, walked onto his driveway and pulled back a tarp covering a motorcycle, which turned out to be stolen. Collins had twice eluded police in high-speed chases in which he rode an orange and black motorcycle, and authorities used Collins’ Facebook page to track the motorcycle to his girlfriend’s home.
The Supreme Court of Virginia ruled in September 2016 that the automobile exception applied because the vehicle was “readily mobile” with easy access to a road and because police reasonably believed “the motorcycle was contraband.”
McGuireWoods took on the appeal pro bono last fall, and Fitzgerald presented oral argument in January.
“We found this case after the decision in the Supreme Court of Virginia,” he told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “We read the decision ... and we thought that it looked interesting, that it might be the sort of thing the U.S. Supreme Court might be interested in.”
The high court’s opinion, penned by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, reversed the state court and warned that such permissive policing would be a slippery slope.
“To allow an officer to rely on the automobile exception to gain entry into a house or its curtilage for the purpose of conducting a vehicle search would unmoor the exception from its justifications, render hollow the core Fourth Amendment protection the Constitution extends to the house and its curtilage, and transform what was meant to be an exception into a tool with far broader application,” Sotomayor wrote.
Over the past several years, Fitzgerald also has argued cases in several federal appellate courts, as well as the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Georgia Supreme Court. He clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Chief Judge Edward E. Carnes of the Eleventh Circuit in Montgomery, Ala.
—Mike Fox
2008
Robert T. Dumbacher was promoted to partner with Hunton Andrews Kurth in Atlanta. Dumbacher focuses his practice on representing and advising employers in complex labor relations and employment planning and disputes, including trade secrets/ noncompete disputes and wage and hour issues.
John J. Engel, a member of Ballard- Spahr’s real estate department, has been elected to partnership in the Baltimore office.
Aryan Moniri was promoted to partner with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in Washington, D.C. Moniri represents clients in developing, financing, acquiring, and selling energy and infrastructure projects, both in the U.S. and internationally.
Seth Ragosta is a shareholder with Lenhart Pettit in Charlottesville. Ragosta focuses his practice on family law, investigations and litigation compliance, and commercial litigation.
Kate Skagerberg was named as a 2018 Texas Rising Star in Super Lawyers for defense in personal injury (products) claims. Skagerberg practices with Beck Redden in Houston.
Alec Solotorovsky joined Eimer Stahl as partner in the firm’s antitrust and complex litigation practices in Chicago, after 10 years at Kirkland & Ellis. Solotorovsky litigates complex commercial disputes involving contracts, private equity, and other mergers and acquisition transactions; trade secrets; post-employment restrictive covenants and executive employment. His clients span industries such as finance, construction, health care, food, aerospace, education, retail, medical device and steel services industries.
A recipient of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois’ 2018 Excellence in Pro Bono Service Award, Solotorovsky has an active pro bono practice that includes civil rights work on behalf of incarcerated clients and counseling a local charter school on labor, employment and regulatory issues. Sabina A. Vayner joined Greenberg Traurig’s Atlanta office as of counsel in the entertainment and media practice and the trademark and brand management group. Vayner represents brand owners and creators across a broad spectrum of industries in trademark, copyright, and advertising litigation, enforcement and counseling matters. She has experience litigating federal trademark, copyright, false advertising, and trade dress infringement actions, and regularly represents clients in proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.
For the past six years, Vayner has been recognized as a Georgia Rising Star in the area of intellectual property litigation by Super Lawyers magazine. In 2017, she was named one of Atlanta Business Chronicle’s “40 Under 40,” and in 2014, she was selected as one of Georgia Trend magazine’s “40 Under 40.” Vayner has also been recognized by the World Trademark Review as a leading trademark practitioner in the publication’s annual WTR 1000 ranking for the past three years.
2009
Robert L. Burns was elected a director at Richards, Layton & Finger in Wilmington, Del. Burns focuses his practice on corporate and commercial litigation in Delaware’s state and federal courts, including the Court of Chancery and the Delaware Supreme Court. Burns has litigated numerous corporate control, corporate governance and fiduciary duty matters, as well appraisal actions and contractual disputes.
Brian Johnson was appointed acting deputy director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by acting Director Mick Mulvaney in July. Johnson was formerly principal policy director at the CFPB.
Bryan Starrett was recognized in Benchmark Litigation’s 40 & Under Hot List. Starrett is a partner with Brooks Pierce in Greensboro, N.C., and represents clients in all levels of state and federal courts, including the North Carolina Business Court.
Joseph Warden was selected as a 2018 life sciences Rising Star by Law360. The award honors attorneys under the age of 40 with notable accomplishments in their practice area. Warden, who is based in Fish & Richardson’s Delaware office, was one of five attorneys selected for the distinction.
Earlier this year, Warden argued the damages segment of the judgment as a matter of law that reversed a $2.5 billion jury verdict—the largest patent damages award in history — against client Gilead Sciences Inc. The case, Idenix Pharmaceuticals LLC et al. v. Gilead Sciences Inc., is part of an ongoing global dispute between Gilead and Merck & Co./Idenix over Gilead’s two blockbuster drugs, Sovaldi and Harvoni.
Warden was also heavily involved in the Gilead Sciences Inc. v. Merck & Co. Inc., et al. trial over the same hepatitis C drugs. He second-chaired the damages portion of the March 2016 trial. Merck was asking for over $2 billion, but the jury awarded Merck only $200 million. That award was subsequently reversed in June 2016 after the Fish team proved litigation and business misconduct by Merck and that the case was “exceptional.” Warden led the subsequent briefing that netted Gilead $14 million in attorneys’ fees in July 2017.
